Morning Coffee

Survey – done. Coffee – ready. Report writing – hit me.

The Daily Pinch

Moving to Australia pretty much changed my life. It's funny when things you dream of come true.

Just like the day I passed my final exam. Or the day I graduated. Crossed the street and had a cup of coffee. Just like any other day.

It hits you later on. And then you kind of forget what it felt like. Especially nice things, which sucks, because you remember the bad ones a long time.

Waking up every day to the song of parrots puts things in a different perspective. Days may be long, hard and too hot, and weekends may be busy, cloudy and too short. But I remind myself – not every day, but whenever I can – of where I am and what I do.

I saw this new series on the TV, and it made some feelings stir up inside me. This incredible awe and cluelessness, respect and admiration...

I walk on the same sand people walked on 50,000 years ago. I work with some of the last people to have walked out of the desert, I learn new ways – but the ways that have been present for tens of thousands of years.

Makes you think of your high school history lessons, doesn't it? It makes me remind (and keep reminding) myself of my new life...

Google it, watch it, share it.

Leaving...

Driving back from the desert, I have a weird feeling in my stomach. It's one of those you're not really familiar with.

It hurts, but it shows you that something good's happened. Something important and valuable. Nevertheless, it's news to me.

Something inside me changed. Something in the air changed. It might've only affected the air in my head. But it has.

Too late or too early, I'm not sure — but it's here. That feeling of belonging. Of finding your place. And of having to leave it.

It's that bitter-sweet gut feeling that makes you nauseated and shed happy tears at the same time. But I'm not by myself, and I can't stop on the side of the road and gaze back into what I'm leaving behind.

Spring in Australia

Spring has finally come to Australia. After a long and cold winter, here it is! Even though winter in Australia is nowhere near cold and should be called not-summer (as my friend G would say), I have a feeling people have had enough of rain and cold.

The temperatures here don't go lower than 2 degrees Celcius or so, but because there's no heating and the isolation is quite bad, it gives you the chills all right. After three weeks of pretty much crappy weather in Croatia, I came back to the Western Australian spring, to pretty much similar weather.

According to the Noongar cycle (Noongar are the native tribe in present-dayPerth and its surroundings), we're in the middle of Djilba over here, which runs through August and September, and is described as a mixture of wet days with increasing number of clear, cold nights and pleasant warmer days. The Noongar calendar has six seasons, rather than the four that were imported by European settlers.

I found a news article that says:

...intriguingly, it's not the calendar, or even necessarily the prevailing weather, that largely determines the Noongar seasons. Rather, it's the emergence of various plants and animals that dictate how and where traditional owners would have gathered their food.

Professor Len Collard, a researcher at the University of WA's School of Indigenous Studies, says that the Djilba season literally translates as the 'grassy time', when the preceding months of rainfall are reflected in the wealth of vegetation now growing. In turn, that paves the way for Kumbarang, or the "time of plenty", when young birds are fledging and wildlife is abundant.

Traditionally, Noongars would have relied on this kind of seasonal knowledge to inform their hunter-gathering strategies. For instance, rainy weather means kangaroos have higher levels of worms, which makes kangaroo-hunting a bad idea at this time of year. Similarly, emu eggs will have already passed the edible stage. In short, "nature governs", Professor Collard said. Although few people live hunter-gatherer lifestyles today, the principle could also help to teach us how to fish or hunt in a sustainable way, he added.

For instance, "it's not in our interest to be killing the mother duck while she's sitting on the eggs, because then the eggs might not survive and we won't have as many ducks the next year".

The Noongar seasons may also be better at highlighting the changes to our environment being wrought by climate change, Mr Cook said.

Check the link for the complete article: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/lovely-djilba-weather-were-having-a-guide-to-the-noongar-seasons-20130911-2tkm7.html#ixzz2gobA1cQv.

Lovely, isn't it? And so simple. It makes me think...

I'm lying in my bed, lazying around on a Saturday morning, and the blinds are down. I know it's shitty weather outside again. It's not about the clouds and the rain, but the wind. It blows through your bones. Cold winds blowing from the south make me not wanna go out, but hide under the covers.

But here's a couple of spring photos. Walking to work, I run into these crazy little flowers and amazing blooms, some of which I've never seen before. Enjoy!

Also, I finally planted a little herb garden on my balcony, and already had some rocket, basil and chives in my food. Yum!

And a couple more photos of spring life...

What have we come to?

Am I taking crazy pills?

Have we come to an era where politeness is confused with seduction?
Where bullies advance while hard workers eat their dust.

A place where being yourself is weird?
Where being a friend means telling you what 'you should do'.

A time when being overstrained is fashionable?
When we look forward to our retirement and not living fully every day.

An environment in which it's scary to wake up and start the day?
Where you look around and don't know what to think.

Is this just yet another ice age?
Where we end up in our very own private little caves.

Or have we already?

A teaser

Until I find some time...

Sleepless

Travelling back made me think about things. About how far I live from my origin, and about how easy or hard it is to move back and forth.

It's only been the first time I've flown back to Croatia, but that trip alone was sufficient to make my mind whirl.

Whether it's a good or a bad thing, moving long distances makes you question things. Pros-and-cons-list kind of style. And the weird thing is you don't really think about them at the time.

You get caught up in the moment, you get lost in your work. And you get lulled into your new life. Not that it's easy - it's not. But I somehow feel like a douche whining. So I try not to.

I'm on the plane back to Singapore. I met up with an old friend of mine who lives close to Frankfurt, so we had a couple of beers at the airport. That, among other things, got me thinking. About life, distances, closeness, frequent flyer miles, the desert, family, life, and many more other hard-core things.

It's definitely not something you want to ponder upon, especially not on a 12+ hour intercontinental flight. But I guess that's what you get.

Hopefully I can fall asleep and wake up in a better place - on the globe and in my head.

Countdown (dd:hh:mm)

 

An Exciting Day - Photo Diary

Twelve

...is the number of days before I go back to Europe.

The summer vacation is booked, the little house at the end of the village on a remote island is reserved, the ferry rides are timed, and the excitement is growing.

I'm down to the last couple of atoms of strength, patience, communication, sleep, energy, will and what not. I really need this break.

I just hope it zens me out instead of push me over the edge.

Peace Love Unity Respect

Third summer out of four

Yupp, waiting eagerly for my summer vacation. Exciting.

It's almost been a full year that I've lived in Australia and, even though it's been exciting, it was also quite long. A lot of new things to get used to, people to get along with, tasks to commit to, responsibilities to take etc.

I'm slowly wrapping up the stuff I need sorted out; writing the final reports, preparing for the two last trips before I take off, organising stuff for when I'm away - and at the same time planning and scheduling my vacation, detailing and sorting out ferry rides, bookings and similar.

The good thing is I have a bunch of people helping me out and waiting eagerly for the summer.

Let the games begin, I say... In twenty-four days.

Let the planning begin!

My annual leave is getting closer, and it's almost a month away from now. Thirty-two days, to be exact.

I've already started planning what to do over the Croatian summer. Well, my friends have, since it's a bit harder for me to plan from so far away. Luckily, I have people around me who are equally eager, so I'm sure it'll be fun.

I still have tons to do. There are lots of small projects I need to wrap up before I go, but I also need to pre-plan some for September, when I start work again.

I'll also have to have my living room ceiling changed while I'm away, which means moving everything from the room while packing, preparing, sorting stuff out etc. It will be an interesting couple of weeks, especially since I only have a certain amount of time in between finishing work and leaving to the airport. It's plenty, of course, but the weeks before that day will be busy busy busy.

This makes it a bit easier.

Tuesday Tick-Off List

Inspired by Bitchy Dust's regular update on life and all the stuff that goes with it...

I'm grateful for:

• being here right now (God knows it took me ages, but it has obviously paid off)

• friends who start squeaking on the phone when I give them a surprise buzz

• friends who find the time in their super busy lives to email something like supr busy, ll email later, hug

• a beer on the terrace and the double episode of Friends when I get home from work

• co-workers who enjoy lying in the grass during lunch break as much as me

• crazy, unexpected, fun weekends

• beautiful weather on a crappy day

• my annual leave in five weeks (if I make it)

• random walks around the neighbourhood

• friends I didn't even know I had

• a nice cup of tea

• Soup Mondays at work

• those tiny glimpses of light in the darkest hour.

I'm not thrilled about:

• a pile of crap on a beautiful day

• self-involved people who make it even crappier

• when shit start snowballing in front of your eyes and you can only watch in shock

• no heating at the office on a cold day

• plans, ideas and opinions being pushed aside while being overrun by the snowball of shit

• short days and long nights (although I'm a night owl)

• never-ending piles of dirty dishes

• this mess in my head.